What 1080 Ti AIB card are you getting and why?

Well I was just calling it what it really was which is 5 weeks not "3-4 more weeks". I personally do not want to wait that long and hoping either the MSI Gaming or Asus Strix comes on in the next week or so.

I was also including the other cards in that post, not just the FTW3's the lower SC and SC2 have ship dates on or around April 17th, hence my 3-4 weeks...
 
So anyone have any info on the Strix? It was reviewed TWO WEEKS ago on techpowerup.com and then nothing has been said since.
 
So who has the worst warranty? When I buy on Amex I want whoever is going to tell me to suck it for any issues after 1 year so I can get full refund back on my card using extended warranty.
 
EVGA just updated that their FTW3 cards will be 11.37 inches.... Seems pretty long. Just measured my case and other then my sata cables, I should be able to fit the card...Just FYI
 
I planned on strix for my ncase but alas they went 2.5 slot and I'm fairly certain the new card won't fit. I just need something that isn't fe, shows allows me to overclock fairly well, and fits the ncase.
 
FTW3 or ROG Strix for me.

The ICX cooler on the FTW3 intrigues me and I've also been very happy with evga products including my 980Ti

I'd also settle for a ROG Strix as they always seem to be solid cards.

Interestingly enough, the longer I'm waiting for one of these two cards to show up on Amazon stock (have gift cards there) the more I think... "you know, I think I can stretch this 980Ti for another year" and just build an all-new system with Volta
 
My Gigabyte Aorus will be here tomorrow..I got the non extreme because it was in stock and I dont see any performance difference between the two.
 
I got a Gigabyte Aorus (non-Xtreme). I was going to go for the Xtreme, but Gigabyte was out of pre-orders. It will arrive today and I'm so excited. My last Nvidia card was an EVGA 8800 GT. I got sick of waiting for Vega to probably just be disappointed by its performance.

This will be my third Gigabyte card, and I've had 4 motherboards from them as well. A lot of people are die-hard Asus or EVGA fans. I guess I would say I always opt for Gigabyte over the other 2. I know their service is definitely below that of EVGA. I've had to use EVGA's support before and it was terrific. I got a defective mobo that Asus wouldn't let me RMA a few years back. After that I said I wouldn't buy a mobo that's not GB. I've never had to use their service, which I hold in high regard. It's great if you have great service, but imo even better if you sell me products where I'll never have to find that out.
 
My Gigabyte Aorus will be here tomorrow..I got the non extreme because it was in stock and I dont see any performance difference between the two.

Same here. The only difference between the xtreme and the base Aorus is apparently a few Mhz out of the box, slightly larger copper plate on the backplate (arguable usefulness), some extra LEDs, and an extra year on the warranty (4 years instead of 3). In my mind, the only big thing there is the warranty difference, and I don't keep my cards even 3 years. Hell, my 980ti lasting almost 2 years is almost a miracle by my usual upgrade schedule. For people that keep cards that long, the extra year would definitely be worth the $30, though. The Gigabyte rep on Reddit claims that the xtreme chips "are binned to their highest standard," but he also said the base Aorus chips are binned as well. Probably means nothing in the end.
 
Same here. The only difference between the xtreme and the base Aorus is apparently a few Mhz out of the box, slightly larger copper plate on the backplate (arguable usefulness), some extra LEDs, and an extra year on the warranty (4 years instead of 3). In my mind, the only big thing there is the warranty difference, and I don't keep my cards even 3 years. Hell, my 980ti lasting almost 2 years is almost a miracle by my usual upgrade schedule. For people that keep cards that long, the extra year would definitely be worth the $30, though. The Gigabyte rep on Reddit claims that the xtreme chips "are binned to their highest standard," but he also said the base Aorus chips are binned as well. Probably means nothing in the end.

My regular Aorus will be here Friday too. I'm happy with the factory OC so I probably won't even touch it further. I would have probably got the extreme if they were in, but not worth waiting any longer.
 


Saw this on Reddit. 74C with a 2062mhz clock out of the box seems pretty solid to me.


It seems like the Asus STRIX, this Auros Extreme, and the MSI Gaming X all reach about the same temp and clock speed. The clock speed variance between them seems to be more silicon lottery than actual design of the cooler. The extra TDP these aftermarket cards provide is really helping. I know the MSI Gaming X can give up to 350Watts.
 
It seems like the Asus STRIX, this Auros Extreme, and the MSI Gaming X all reach about the same temp and clock speed. The clock speed variance between them seems to be more silicon lottery than actual design of the cooler. The extra TDP these aftermarket cards provide is really helping. I know the MSI Gaming X can give up to 350Watts.

EDIT: Aorus (at least the Xtreme for sure) actually apparently does 375w.
 
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The Gigabyte rep on Reddit claims that the xtreme chips "are binned to their highest standard," but he also said the base Aorus chips are binned as well. Probably means nothing in the end.

Gigabyte rep playing semantics with the word "binning", since the cost of cherrypicking the best chips would add an absurd cost to every "binned" card, what purpose would cherrypicked chips serve when they'll all maintain the factory overclocks they're shipping their cards with anyway? He really just means "tested", since there really would be no upside to them for true, actual binning.

Marketing clowns.
 
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Gigabyte rep playing semantics with the word "binning", since A) the cost of cherrypicking the best chips would add an absurd cost to every "binned" card, what purpose would cherrypicked chips serve when they'll all maintain the factory overclocks they're shipping their cards with anyway? He really just means "tested", since there really would be no upside to them for true, actual binning.

Marketing clowns.

Yeah, that's what I think as well. Hence why I said I doubt that it means anything in the end. I don't think anyone bins chips anymore. I think EVGA was one of the last holdouts with their Classifieds and Kingpin models, but even they stopped doing it a few years ago now.
 
Same here. The only difference between the xtreme and the base Aorus is apparently a few Mhz out of the box, slightly larger copper plate on the backplate (arguable usefulness), some extra LEDs, and an extra year on the warranty (4 years instead of 3). In my mind, the only big thing there is the warranty difference, and I don't keep my cards even 3 years. Hell, my 980ti lasting almost 2 years is almost a miracle by my usual upgrade schedule. For people that keep cards that long, the extra year would definitely be worth the $30, though. The Gigabyte rep on Reddit claims that the xtreme chips "are binned to their highest standard," but he also said the base Aorus chips are binned as well. Probably means nothing in the end.

The only thing the Xtreme may provide is a higher starting point for OC. Not guaranteed as the non xtreme could have more headroom thus yielding a higher OC. The LED on the backplate wouldnt be visible in my setup so it was a no brainer for me. If it was in stock, I would have gotten it just because but my patience isnt that well.. lol
 
If I were getting 1080ti, I'd probably choose MSI Gaming X.

Reasons:

1. MSI is often the second cheapest, or joint second cheapest version of any GPU available where I live, often tied with EVGA and second only to Galax. Asus & Gigabyte are usually $60 or $30 more expensive respectively, if not more. (This is the other way round for US cards I think). This is actually an anomoly as the 3 companies are usually fairly close in prices, only Pascal did Asus and Gigabyte start jacking their prices.
2. MSI's local office is literally right above the mall I usually go to purchase these GPUs, it's even more accessible than Asus here, and it's pretty close too, so RMA is easy. Galax has no local office that I am aware of.

The combination of Price and RMA convenience usually are the deciding factors.

Agree. I have a GTX 1080 MSI gaming X and I love that card. Cooler is fantastic. If I didn't have a 1080 TI "founders edition" then this is what I'd be getting. I kind of regret not waiting but whatever.
 
Had been planning on the Asus Strix but after I saw the $80 premium went for the MSI Armor instead. If the MSI GamerX had been available, $40 premium, I might have gone for that instead, but I think the Armor will serve my 4K needs well.
 
I got my Aorus (non-Xtreme) in last night. Man, this this is such an upgrade from my two 290's. I play at 4k, and typically leave AA at 2x because I don't really see (visually) a huge benefit in cranking it at such a high res:

Doom Ultra Settings 2x AA (No nightmare settings) - over 100fps constant
Overwatch Epic Settings 2x MSAA - I have not seen my framerate drop under 80 fps. Typically 80s - 110

That was at the stock clocks with a more aggressive fan curve. Low 60s C under load with the fan at 65%. The card is boosting on it's own to 1924mhz

I was able to OC (without unlocking the voltage) in Afterburner: +90 core clock, +450 memory clock. It hits 2025mhz but bumps back to 2000mhz even. Temps 65-67C fan at 69%. Tried bumping the core to +95 but it's not stable. Will try to get another 1 or 2 mhz on the core and another 25-50 on the mem.
 
Was able to snag the Aorus 1080Ti Xtreme from newegg. My first Gigabyte card.. have always gone with EVGA in the past but the 1 month wait is to long. Can't wait for it to get here!
 
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I got my Aorus (non-Xtreme) in last night. Man, this this is such an upgrade from my two 290's. I play at 4k, and typically leave AA at 2x because I don't really see (visually) a huge benefit in cranking it at such a high res:

Doom Ultra Settings 2x AA (No nightmare settings) - over 100fps constant
Overwatch Epic Settings 2x MSAA - I have not seen my framerate drop under 80 fps. Typically 80s - 110

That was at the stock clocks with a more aggressive fan curve. Low 60s C under load with the fan at 65%. The card is boosting on it's own to 1924mhz

I was able to OC (without unlocking the voltage) in Afterburner: +90 core clock, +450 memory clock. It hits 2025mhz but bumps back to 2000mhz even. Temps 65-67C fan at 69%. Tried bumping the core to +95 but it's not stable. Will try to get another 1 or 2 mhz on the core and another 25-50 on the mem.

Sounds similar to mine. Out of the box it was boosting to something like 1947mhz, iirc. I dialed in the same settings as the Xtreme model to see what would happen, and it took the boost up to 1984mhz. Running Time Spy with the default fan settings, the highest I saw was 72C. With the fan set manually to 70%, the temps stay in the mid 60s. If I can get it to hit the 2ghz mark stable I'll be happy with it. I know it won't make a noticeable difference, but for epeen purposes, I hope I can get it there.

I'm actually impressed with how quiet the card is. 70% seems to be a sweet spot where it sounds like it about matches my case fans. I start noticing it beyond that point, but it's still super quiet compared to my 980ti.

Also, most people with the Xtremes seem to be reporting over 2ghz out of the box. Maybe GB really did bin their chips?


Edit: Interesting...I just saw this over on Reddit. Apparently, there are new BIOSs for the Aorus cards already. The CS rep said to give them a try. Hmmm, I wonder if I could flash the Xtreme BIOS to my regular Aorus.
 
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Edit: Interesting...I just saw this over on Reddit. Apparently, there are new BIOSs for the Aorus cards already. The CS rep said to give them a try. Hmmm, I wonder if I could flash the Xtreme BIOS to my regular Aorus.

Will be installing my non XE today and would like to know that as well. I DLed both BIOS and will probably give it a try. I guess the worst that can happen is it wont match and therefor not install. I think the chance of bricking it is pretty low being that its pretty much the same card..
 
holy cow! Finally, after what feels like forever, I was able to order an Aorus 1080 Ti Extreme from Newegg! Can't wait for it to come in- first time having a videocard that isn't EVGA or reference. Hope it's as solid as they get.
 
My AORUS 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition arrived today and I have to say I'm very impressed. I've always bought EVGA cards in the past but the AORUS is one sexy beast - the cooler is a piece of art. I've already cancelled my EVGA 1080 Ti FTW3 since that doesn't ship until May and I think I'll be very happy with the AORUS.

I do have one question though. Is this really a passive cooler when not playing games? When I'm chilling on my desktop the fans are automatically shut off and the card idles between 39*C~45*C depending on how recently I've played a game. They ramp up to 1916 RPM and hit a high of 78*C under full load. I think these temperatures are all within normal range?
 
My AORUS 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition arrived today and I have to say I'm very impressed. I've always bought EVGA cards in the past but the AORUS is one sexy beast - the cooler is a piece of art. I've already cancelled my EVGA 1080 Ti FTW3 since that doesn't ship until May and I think I'll be very happy with the AORUS.

I do have one question though. Is this really a passive cooler when not playing games? When I'm chilling on my desktop the fans are automatically shut off and the card idles between 39*C~45*C depending on how recently I've played a game. They ramp up to 1916 RPM and hit a high of 78*C under full load. I think these temperatures are all within normal range?


Yeah, the fans turn off below 50C. You can change that with a custom curve if you want. 78C seems a bit high, but it could be just your case of a hot room.
 
Yeah, the fans turn off below 50C. You can change that with a custom curve if you want. 78C seems a bit high, but it could be just your case of a hot room.

Hrrrm, you are right my temps are higher than what a lot of review sites are reporting. They seem to be getting 71C-73C under full load and I was hitting 82C-84C when running Time Spy / Fire Strike.

Not sure if it's relevant but I also swapped out my case yesterday from the Fractal R4 to Fractal C so I did lose out on 1 side panel fan and 2 top exhaust fans. I took the side panel off and ran Time Spy / Fire Strike again and my max temps were 73C which is more in line with the review sites. Do the review sites usually test in a non-enclosed space?
 
Hrrrm, you are right my temps are higher than what a lot of review sites are reporting. They seem to be getting 71C-73C under full load and I was hitting 82C-84C when running Time Spy / Fire Strike.

Not sure if it's relevant but I also swapped out my case yesterday from the Fractal R4 to Fractal C so I did lose out on 1 side panel fan and 2 top exhaust fans. I took the side panel off and ran Time Spy / Fire Strike again and my max temps were 73C which is more in line with the review sites. Do the review sites usually test in a non-enclosed space?

I think most sites use a closed case to get a better representation of what temps people should expect. I know with my Aorus 1080ti, I get ~72C when I run Time Spy using the automatic fan setting. I'm using a Corsair Air 540, so my case has a ton of air flow.
 
I think most sites use a closed case to get a better representation of what temps people should expect. I know with my Aorus 1080ti, I get ~72C when I run Time Spy using the automatic fan setting. I'm using a Corsair Air 540, so my case has a ton of air flow.

Thanks for your feedback. Looks like it might be a problem with my case airflow unless I got unlucky and they didn't seat the cooler properly on my card. I'm scared to open it up and look though.
 
Thanks for your feedback. Looks like it might be a problem with my case airflow unless I got unlucky and they didn't seat the cooler properly on my card. I'm scared to open it up and look though.

If you have the Define C you can add a number of fans that don't come default, including to the top and bottom which may help (I think I'll replace the front with a 140mm fan as well). That's the case I'm planning to transfer my system to with the 1080Ti so it's good to hear your experience with it.
 
If you have the Define C you can add a number of fans that don't come default, including to the top and bottom which may help (I think I'll replace the front with a 140mm fan as well). That's the case I'm planning to transfer my system to with the 1080Ti so it's good to hear your experience with it.

My current cooling solution in the Define C is:
Front: 2x 140mm Noctua NF-A14 PWM
Back: 1x 120mm Noctua NF-P12
CPU: Noctua NH-D15 with one fan (the second one doesn't fit in the Define C)

AFAIK, the Define C doesn't have a bottom fan mount. I didn't install any fans on the top since I wanted to keep my system as quiet as possible but I may have to use both top slots now to keep things cooler. I will say the Define C is a nice change from the Define R4 since I don't need all those expansion slots and it's way lighter and more compact.
 
Will be installing my non XE today and would like to know that as well. I DLed both BIOS and will probably give it a try. I guess the worst that can happen is it wont match and therefor not install. I think the chance of bricking it is pretty low being that its pretty much the same card..

Alright, so I tried to flash the XE BIOS to my non-XE card, and it won't flash. It goes quickly, but there is an error message that pops up that says something like "no compatible board found" (it will go on to say the flash was successful and to restart, but if you watch the flashing process, you'll see what I'm talking about). I guess GB has done something physically the the PCBs to differentiate the versions of their card to prevent people from turning their non-XE cards into XEs. It's odd though since everything about the 2 cards seems to be the exact same minus the backplate.
 
My current cooling solution in the Define C is:
Front: 2x 140mm Noctua NF-A14 PWM
Back: 1x 120mm Noctua NF-P12
CPU: Noctua NH-D15 with one fan (the second one doesn't fit in the Define C)

AFAIK, the Define C doesn't have a bottom fan mount. I didn't install any fans on the top since I wanted to keep my system as quiet as possible but I may have to use both top slots now to keep things cooler. I will say the Define C is a nice change from the Define R4 since I don't need all those expansion slots and it's way lighter and more compact.

The specs say it can take a 120mm fan on the bottom, not sure where though since I don't have it yet. I'm not sure how much more that would help since you already have 2x 140mm in the front though. I'll be moving from a Silverstone FT-02 so it will be quite a bit smaller and I'm certainly not expecting the same cooling performance from the Define C, but I'm a bit tired of having the FT-02 monolith sitting on top of my desk, lol. Granted, I have never had to worry about fitting any GPU (or two) in there.
 
Alright, so I tried to flash the XE BIOS to my non-XE card, and it won't flash. It goes quickly, but there is an error message that pops up that says something like "no compatible board found" (it will go on to say the flash was successful and to restart, but if you watch the flashing process, you'll see what I'm talking about). I guess GB has done something physically the the PCBs to differentiate the versions of their card to prevent people from turning their non-XE cards into XEs. It's odd though since everything about the 2 cards seems to be the exact same minus the backplate.
Wow, I figured they would lock it somehow. Sure it will be cracked sooner or later.
 
My MSI Gaming X arrives tomorrow. I've had the MSI Twin Frozr coolers in every iteration of my upgrades since the 680 (970, 980, 980ti) and they are just so solidly built. I've had sagging issues in the past with Asus Strix cards (Had a 970 for a few days) so I stay far away from those even though they look cool. They've probably since corrected the sagging issues but MSI has never let me down so I stick with them.
 
My MSI Gaming X arrives tomorrow. I've had the MSI Twin Frozr coolers in every iteration of my upgrades since the 680 (970, 980, 980ti) and they are just so solidly built. I've had sagging issues in the past with Asus Strix cards (Had a 970 for a few days) so I stay far away from those even though they look cool. They've probably since corrected the sagging issues but MSI has never let me down so I stick with them.
Yeah I had no issues with my 980 Ti Gaming and I am very happy with my 1080 Ti Gaming X so far. And no sagging at all for their cards. Even the techpowerup review mentioned this.

"When installed inside the case, there is no visible sagging, bending, or warping."

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_1080_Ti_Gaming_X/3.html
 
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